Mr. Grey (a caucasion male) plays the kung fu master Korean. (A fine acting job by the way)
Could you imagine the reaction from the 'politcal correct police' today if Hollywood did this?
Was this one of the last movies that did this? Can anyone think of a newer movie where one race portrade another?
Probably the best make-up job ever. I never suspected until I saw the name of Mr. Grey on the credits
"This picture of Al Dutcher bothers me."
Leonard Nimoy plays a Vulcan in Star Trek.
Roddy McDowell plays a simian in Planet of the Apes.
Mr. Grey plays a German in Cabaret.
What about Wentworth Miller and Anthony Hopkins in the Human Stain?
shareI know I'm responding almost 6 year to late lol but Wentworth Miller is part black...
shareI realize that this post is 10 years old and you know this now.. but Wentworth Miller does have some African-American and Jamaican ethnicity (along with some others stuff) on his dad's side.
shareFunny that you mention Roddy McDowell, because he played Chiun in the Remo Williams TV-Movie Pilot.. lol
shareThis is a *beep* demented thread.
Yes, it's an awesome make up job, but then it's an awesome acting job, so who gives a damn whether grey is caucasian or oriental? No-one kicks up a fuss when skinny actors put on fat suits, or guys play girls, or vice versa.
Don't ask me, I'm just an orderly. I push things around.
Politically incorrect casting happens a lot in the film industry.
Examples:
George C. Scott as Rainbird in 'Firestarter' (Rainbird is a Native American in Stephen King's book)
Marlo Thomas as a Chinese woman on a 'Bonanza' episode
Zena Marshall as Miss Taro(Japanese?) in 'Dr. No'
Pedro Armendariz(Mexican) as Ali Kerim Bey(Turkish)in
'From Russia with Love'
Al Jolson as a black guy in 'The Jazz Singer'
Jennifer Lopez(Puerto Rican American)as 'Selena'(Tex Mex)
John Wayne as Ghengis Khan(Mongolian)in 'The Conquerer'
Cantinflas(Mexican)as Passpartout(French) in 'Around the World
in 80 Days'
Jackie Chan(Chinese)as a Japanese race car driver in
'Cannonball Run I and II'
Horst Buchholtz(German)as Chico(Mexican)in
'The Magnificent Seven'
...just to name a few...
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Mako would have been a great choice!
But the Asian portrayal was not a negative one. Yes it used stereotypes, but the character was very likeable and I am sure that the entire viewing audience is fond of and would like to meet such a person, if he actually existed.
Because of the minstrel shows in the late 1800's, that put blacks in a negative light, they are rightly senstive to such portrayals. I am suprised that 'Carbon Copy' got the green light.
There are some other films out there (Peter Sellers Pink Panther) and older ones that Asians should be more offended by than this one.
"You sent us to guard the wrong man Mr. Chalmers."
I don't have a problem when an actor plays another race...It's only when they start to make fun of said race is when it becomes a problem.
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I think it's hilarious that people object to Joel Grey playing a Korean but then suggest a Japanese man to play a Korean instead. Like from this distance, it's the same thing. That seems just as offensive to me, and Joel Grey in makeup looks a lot more Korean than Mako does, actually.
Personally I'd rather they just hired an actual Korean dude, since him *being* Korean was actually part of the story, they mentioned it several times.
I think a white guy playing a Korean is not *necessarily* racist... if they auditioned Koreans first and none of the ones who showed up could act well enough, but Joel Grey could, I can see him getting the part.
If they didn't bother with even trying to find actual Korean actors because "there aren't any good Asian actors anyway" then I have a problem with that, it's a self-perpetuating process.
Clearly the best person to get for the role would be an actual 70-year-old Korean martial arts master of Sinanju. But since the martial art is fictional, an older actor might not be able to do all the stunts, etc, some things get changed because it's, you know, ACTING. Why can a non-martial artist act like he knows to fight? Why can a 50-year-old pretend to be 70? And so a white guy can pretend to be Korean, IF there's a legitimate reason to do so, and not just because "we like white people better than Koreans" or "Koreans can't act" and so on.
I don't know what the motives were of the makers of the film. I just know that it isn't *necessarily* racist to cast a white guy as a Korean, but that there is a strong assumption of racism being a motive unless we see some evidence it wasn't.
Blackface is usually always racist, but that's because there is a huge amount of racist history behind it.
And "yellowface" as well, to a lesser extent, but think of Breakfast at Tiffany's... that was awful. Chiun at least is a super awesome character we are meant to admire. (Of course, all the more reason to have him be as authentic as possible...)
What about sighted guys playing blind people, and gay guys playing straight?
shareAre you telling me that you can tell if I put a Korean, a Chinese, and a Japanese man in a room, that you could tell them apart?? You are dreaming. There are Japanese people who have yellow skin, and Chinese and Koreans that are white an pasty. It depends on where they live in their countries, lol.
And saying there are not that many Asian Actors, are you kidding me? Now back in 1984 IDK, there wasn't as many indie movemakers like there is now.
LOL...yeah John Wayne as Genghis Khan was pretty egregious.
In The Adventures of Marco Polo, virtually all of the asians/middle easterners were played by white dudes, including the Skipper from Gilligan's Island's dad Alan Hale as Kaidu.
Peter Sellers as Sidney Wang in Murder By Death.
Was that hard to find an actual Asian guy that knew martial arts?
shareHe did a great job of playing the martial arts master stereotype. Didn't even suspect it was a western actor until the credits rolled.
These days its doubtful a production could get anywhere near casting for a Korean Master who trains up combatants to save America from its corrupt officials. It's amazing how this whole film goes against accepted social norms. Smith is a government sponsored computer hacker without any clear chain of command. MacCleary is a trained Army operative turned assassin. Everyone is willing to kill anyone and they're still the good guys! I'm sure the gun lobby didn't appreciate any of the gun dodging hokum neither.
That said, it's great; I wish there were more films like it.
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That's just like, your opinion, man
Strap on that there Jammy Pac
>>Mr. Grey (a caucasion male) plays the kung fu master Korean. (A fine acting job by the way)
I realize this is an old post, but the actor playing the Korean man (Chiun) is actually the father of Jennifer Grey (of Dirty Dancing with Swayze fame). "Nobody puts Chiun in a corner."
-Jane
Next thing you know they'll get some white kid to play the Prince of Persia.
Yeah, the third Highlander film had Mario Van Peebles play an evil ancient Asian warrior who goes up against Connor MaCleod. That movie was made sometime during the nineties.
Despite Joel Grey's excellent acting (it really was, I honestly thought the actor was Eurasian until I read the credits at the end), I think it's unfair to rob Asian actors of the already very limited acting roles available in the Hollywood industry.
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